- .Major manhunt had been underway for Berlin attack suspect Anis Amri, 24
- .Italian security sources say he has been shot dead in Milan after a gunfight
- .Understood to have pulled a gun on a police patrol after a routine ID request
- .Shoot-out happened at about 3am after Amri stepped off a train from France
Berlin truck terrorist Anis Amri has been shot dead after a gunfight with police in Milan in the early hours of this morning, Italian police have said.
The Tunisian pulled a gun from his backpack, shouted 'Allahu Akbar' and opened fire on two officers – hitting one in the shoulder – before being shot dead moments after getting off a train from France.
A major international manhunt had been launched for the asylum seeker, who ploughed a lorry into crowds of revellers in the German capital on Monday night, killing 12 and maiming dozens of others.
The 24-year-old, on the run for four days, had just stepped off a train from France when he was stopped by a routine police patrol in the suburb of Sesto San Giovanni in the northern Italian city of Milan.
Two officers asked him for ID documents, at which point Amri 'immediately' pulled a gun from his backpack and shot one of the policemen in the shoulder.
A firefight ensued at about 3am local time, with Amri cowering behind a car as he tried to flee, but the suspect was shot and killed by the other officer – a trainee who had only been in the job a few months.
An Italian minister said today they had 'without a shadow of a doubt' killed the chief suspect in the Berlin massacre. Authorities believe he was trying to flee to southern Italy where he had entered Europe in 2011.
An Italian minister said today they had 'without a shadow of a doubt' killed the chief suspect in the Berlin massacre
Shoot-out: Amri was shot dead in the street after a dramatic gunfight near a train station in Milan
A shoot out took place at about 3am local time and Amri was reportedly heard shouting 'Allahu Akbar' as he tried to flee and police opened fire
He is understood to have pulled a gun on a patrol after being stopped for a routine ID check and shot an officer in the shoulder leaving him seriously injured
The Berlin attack suspect has been shot dead after a gunfight with police in Milan, Italian police have said
On his body police found a train ticket that helped reconstruct the attacker's movements in Berlin, revealing how he took a train from Chambery in France and then from Turin to Milan
It comes hours after two men were arrested at a mosque in Berlin where Amri is believed to have been seen both before and after the atrocity.
Amri ran for cover and cowered behind a car before being shot dead by trainee officer Luca Scata, 29, who had reportedly only been in the job for a matter of months.
This morning, he was praised for his actions and had received hundreds of messages from wellwishers.
Scata's last Facebook post, put up shortly before he shot the terror suspect, stated: 'Only on the road the sun is shining and there are no shadows.'
It has since been inundated with comments from grateful Italians hailing him a hero and thanking him for his actions.
Police, who had received a tip-off Amri may have been in the city, had earlier seen a man in his twenties, of North African appearance, outside the deserted Sesto San Giovanni station in the north of the city at 3am.
When the patrol approached him, he pulled a 22 calibre pistol from his backpack and shot one of the two police officers, Cristian Movio, 36, in the shoulder.
Luca Scata (pictured) has been named as the hero police officer who gunned Amri down this morning
On his body police found a train ticket that helped reconstruct the attacker's movements in Berlin, revealing how he took a train from Chambery in France and then from Turin to Milan
Photos of the scene showed his body lying on the ground surrounded by armed police
The suspect, Europe's most wanted man, tried to run but he was shot dead in the road.
On his body police found a train ticket that helped reconstruct the attacker's movements in Berlin, revealing how he took a train from Chambery in France and then from Turin to Milan.
The Polish driver of the hijacked Berlin lorry was shot in the head on Monday night with a similar-sized gun, police in Germany said previously.
AMRI'S LAST KNOWN LOCATION
Prior to the shooting in Milan, Amri's last known location was a mosque in Berlin, where he was seen just hours after the atrocity.
Amri was captured on CCTV outside the place of worship in the city's Moabit neighbourhood just eight hours after the Christmas market massacre.
Images show a man in dark clothing and a cap standing in a doorway in the early hours of Tuesday, German public broadcaster rbb reported.
Amri was captured on CCTV outside the place of worship in the city's Moabit neighbourhood just eight hours after the Christmas market massacre
Images show a man in dark clothing and a cap standing in a doorway in the early hours of Tuesday, German public broadcaster rbb reported
He was also seen at the same mosque on two different days in the week leading up to the atrocity.
Intelligence sources later confirmed that they believed the man in the CCTV footage to be Amri.
Other pictures emerged of the mosque after it was raided by police who used stun grenades as they entered the building.
The door was seen hanging on its hinges, and a rudimentary attempt to fix it, with pieces of wood and masking tape appeared to have been abandoned.
A window in the hall outside the mosque, which was covered with graffiti and dirt, had been smashed.
The door was seen hanging on its hinges, and a rudimentary attempt to fix it, with pieces of wood and masking tape appeared to have been abandoned
A window in the hall outside the mosque, which was covered with graffiti and dirt, had been smashed
Photos of the scene showed his body lying on the ground surrounded by armed police. The corpse was later covered with a blanket and the square outside the station sealed off as a crime scene.
Interior minister Marco Minniti said there was 'no doubt' the dead man was Anis Amri.
He told journalists at a Rome press conference: 'This was a routine patrol and the officers saw what appeared to be the Berlin suspect.
'Without any hesitation he pulled a gun from his bag and fired at the police. Christian Movio was hit in the shoulder. The police officer Luca Scata responded and the suspect was killed.
At dawn forensics officers removed the body and began photographing bullets strewn across the ground from the shoot-out. There were also blood-soaked clothes and tissues
Amri ran for cover and cowered behind a car before being shot dead by trainee officer Luca Sciappa who had reportedly only been in the job for a matter of months
Amri had been on the run since Monday night after a attack on a Christmas market in Germany
'Without a shadow of a doubt this was Anis Amri'.
He hailed the two police officers as 'heroes' who had ensured 'all Italians can have a happier Christmas because of their bravery'.
Germany's interior ministry spokesman said the country was 'relieved' by reports the terrorist was dead.
'There are growing signs that this is actually the person (wanted in the attack). Should this be proved true, the ministry is relieved that this person no longer poses a danger,' the spokesman, Tobias Plate, told reporters.
Investigation: Forensics were called to the scene after the Berlin lorry killer was shot dead
Police had received a tip-off that Amri was in Milan before he turned up at a train station in Milan
At dawn forensics officers removed the body and began photographing bullets strewn across the ground from the shoot-out. There were also blood-soaked clothes and tissues.
Earlier today police arrested two men at the mosque where Europe's most wanted man was allegedly seen just eight hours after driving a 25-ton lorry into a crowd at a Christmas market.
The men, one of whom was in traditional Muslim dress, wrestled with police, shouted expletives and lashed out at journalists and members of the public as they were bundled away.
The arrests, in Berlin's Moabit neighbourhood, came as it was revealed Amri was allegedly captured on CCTV at the mosque just eight hours after the atrocity.
Images show a man in dark clothing and a cap standing in a doorway in the early hours of Tuesday, German public broadcaster rbb reported. A man, alleged to be Amri, was also seen at the same mosque on two different days in the week leading up to the atrocity.
Earlier today police arrested two men at the mosque where Europe's most wanted man was allegedly seen just eight hours after driving a 25-ton lorry into a crowd at a Christmas market
The men, one of whom was in traditional Muslim dress, wrestled with police, shouted expletives and lashed out at journalists and members of the public as they were bundled away
This morning there had also been reported sighting of him in Aalborg, Denmark - but this now appears to have been a false alarm.
Amri has strong links to Italy because it was the first European country he claimed asylum in.
In 2011 he dodged prison in his native Tunisia after fleeing following a violent robbery. He was jailed for five years in absentia.
He arrived in Italy in 2011, arriving on the small island of Lampedusa amongst thousands of people fleeing the Arab Spring uprisings. He pretended to be a child migrant - even though he was 19 - but then rioted inside his detention centre, which was set on fire. He was then jailed for four years, serving it in two prisons on Sicily.
After his release Italy failed to deport him twice because Tunisia refused to take him back and he fled Italy via the Alps for Germany, meaning he probably went via Milan.
Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti, left, is flanked by Rome's prefect Franco Gabrielli as he speaks during a news conference in Rome
Italian police cordon off an area around the body of Anis Amri after a shoot-out with police
Amri was jailed by a court in Kairouan, in northern Tunisia, in 2010 for stealing a truck, according to German newspaper die Welt.
But he fled his home country for Europe the following year to avoid being sent to prison for other robbery and violence offences.
Amri was sentenced to five years behind bars in 2011 - but left the country to avoid jail and arrived illegally in Italy as a fugitive from justice.
He was later jailed for arson in Italy when he burned down a migrant reception centre during a violent protest on the island of Lampedusa - the entry point into Europe for hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing north Africa and the Middle East.
A man, alleged to be Amri, was seen at the same mosque on two different days in the week leading up to the atrocity. Pictured, a man alleged to be Amir on December 14, left, and 15
Islamic books and pamphlets were stored in a cupboard inside the mosque in the Moabit area
Amri was one of a number of migrants who set fire to their mattresses, which burned the migrant centre holding 1,200 refugees to the ground.
Many refugees were given permission to travel freely through Europe but Amri was ordered to stay in the overcrowded camp because he claimed to be an unaccompanied minor.
Amri was released four months early from his four year sentence, arriving in Germany in July 2015 where he remained under the surveillance of the intelligence services for several months.
He had been arrested three times this year and his asylum application was rejected, but deportation papers were never served and he disappeared.
The Tunisian radical was known to be a supporter of Islamic State and to have received weapons training.
With nowhere to go after his release, ISIS recruiters offered him protection before convincing him to sneak into Germany as a Syrian refugee, a source within Tunisia's anti-terror police revealed.
Seconds from disaster: Dashcam footage shows the hijacked truck (circled in red) speeding past waiting cars as it careers towards the pedestrianised street
A wanted notice for a Tunisian suspect in the truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin says the man should be considered armed and dangerous
Close up: The shattered glass on the windshield of a truck shown after it ploughed through the Christmas market. A wreath and part of a market stall was embedded inside
The source told MailOnline: 'Whatever he decided to do in Germany was started while he was in Italy.
'They gave him food and shelter and persuaded him to carry out a mission for them. It was in Italy that he was radicalised.
'He entered Germany posing as a Syrian refugee. He was a vulnerable young man and they showed kindness to him.'
But the terror he brought to the streets of the German capital is a far cry from a youngster who loved amateur dramatics and cookery, his sister told.
Older sibling Najoua said: 'He did drink, but moderately, he took cooking and acting classes when he was in Italy, he liked his life before he was jailed [in that country].
She added: 'When he was a child in school I was university studying literature, he used to come to me and ask me to read him pre-Islamic poetry and explain to him what it meant. He really appreciated its beauty and he was passionate about it.'
His brother Walid posted a photo of him on Facebook following the identification of Anis as the prime suspect.
The image of Anis stood by a lake was captioned 'I am praying you are safe and that these reports are not true.'
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